The number and variety of electronic devices installed within vehicles have been increasing significantly along with the recent digitalization of vehicle parts. Generally, electronic devices may be used throughout the vehicle, such as in a power train control system (e.g., an engine control system, an automatic transmission control system, or the like), a body control system (e.g., a body electronic equipment control system, a convenience apparatus control system, a lamp control system, or the like), a chassis control system (e.g., a steering apparatus control system, a brake control system, a suspension control system, or the like), a vehicle network (e.g., a controller area network (CAN), a FlexRay-based network, a media oriented system transport (MOST)-based network, or the like), a multimedia system (e.g., a navigation apparatus system, a telematics system, an infotainment system, or the like), and so forth.
The electronic devices used in each of these systems are connected via a vehicle network, which supports functions of the electronic devices. For instance, a vehicle CAN may support a transmission rate of up to 1 Mbps, automatic retransmission of colliding messages, error detection based on a cycle redundancy interface (CRC), and the like. The FlexRay-based network may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Mbps, simultaneous transmission of data through two channels, synchronous data transmission, and the like. The MOST-based network is a communication network for high-quality multimedia, which may support a transmission rate of up to 150 Mbps.
Meanwhile, the telematics system and the infotainment system, like most enhanced safety systems of a vehicle, require higher transmission rates and system expandability. However, the CAN, FlexRay-based network, and the like may not sufficiently support such requirements. The MOST-based network, in particular, may support a higher transmission rate than the CAN or FlexRay-based network. However, applying the MOST-based network to vehicle networks can be costly. Due to these limitations, an Ethernet-based network is often utilized as a vehicle network. The Ethernet-based network may support bi-directional communication through one pair of windings and may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Gbps. The Ethernet-based vehicle network may include a plurality of communication nodes. The communication node may be a gateway, a switch (or bridge), an end node, or the like.
The power line for power supply in a vehicle network may be separated from the data line used for communications between electronic devices in the vehicle network. In this case, electronic devices may acquire power through the power line and receive data through the data line. Alternatively, power and data in a vehicle network may be transmitted over a single line. For example, power can be transmitted over a data line used for communications. However, when power and data are transmitted through a single line, the power supply may terminate if a fault occurs inside or outside the electronic device. Thus, an electronic device which cannot obtain power may fail to operate, thereby causing problems in the vehicle network.